SYLLABUS FSC 440/640 FORENSIC ENTOMOLOGY

INSTRUCTOR: DR. DYLAN PARRY

OFFICE 109 ILLICK HALL (ESF Campus)

PHONE 470-6753

Office Hours 10:30-12:30 Tuesday – other times by appt.

Course Overview

Forensic entomology is the study of insects and any aspect of their interaction with the law. The focus of this course will be on the field of medico-criminal entomology, a science where insects are used to estimate the time and place of human death. I will focus on the utility of arthropods (mostly insects) in crime scene investigation and how we can use these organisms to make critical inferences about the post-mortem interval. There is both a classroom and a practical, hands-on, laboratory component to this course and you will be required to conduct actual field investigations of staged ‘homicides’ using a pig surrogate. These exercises will allow you to apply classroom knowledge to real-world scenarios and expose you to the utility, and also some of the difficulty, in using insects as forensic evidence.

Objectives

· Identify the major groups of insects associated with cadavers and what their ecological roles are in the decomposition process.

· Develop appropriate sampling techniques for the different groups of forensically important insects.

· Determine post-mortem intervals (PMI) using insects collected at crime scene

· Become familiar with factors that can alter or complicate PMI estimation

Topics

Lecture 1: Introduction and overview of course

Lecture 2: Insect and Arthropod basics

Lecture 3: Insects of forensic importance: beetles (Coleoptera) and flies (Diptera)

-Identification and ecology

-Forensic utility

Lecture 4:

Lecture 5: Entomology and the law: scope of forensic entomology

Lecture 6: Insect applications to medico-criminal entomology

Lecture 7: Human decomposition and insect succession

-Terrestrial

-Aquatic

Lecture 8: Measuring insect development

Lecture 9: Calculating ADD & estimating time of death (PMI)

-Factors that alter Insect Development & PMI Estimates

-Case Studies involving Postmortem Intervals

Lecture 10: Observations & Reporting at the Crime Scene

-Collecting & Acquiring Temperature Data

-Collecting, Preserving and Rearing Insect Specimens

Lecture 11: Unusual Cases and Unique Death Scenes

Lecture 12: Interpreting and Writing Entomological Reports

Lecture 13: Mock Court Room and Presentations

Projects:

(1) Collection and identification of insects associated with carrion

- Collect, preserve, and properly identify the entomological fauna associated with carrion/cadavers in CNY.

(2) ‘Homicide’ investigation and courtroom presentation

- At some point in the semester, I will guide you to a crime scene where you will see a ‘cadaver’. Each of you will be assigned to an investigation team. Using the techniques and protocols that we will learn over the next week, you will process the crime scene, documenting (in writing and photographically) everything that you think will be useful to your investigation.

You will also sample all relevant entomological evidence following protocols discussed in class and reviewed in the text. Some evidence should be preserved in the appropriate manner (labeled glass vials (provided) for maggots and other soft bodied organisms), other evidence will need to be reared in the maggot-motels until development is finished.

Using the identification keys and growth charts, you will need to determine the species, and then use the growth charts to determine the age of the maggots or other forensically important insects.

I will provide accurate weather data for the time period surrounding the homicide. You will need to use the relevant evidence to estimate post-mortem interval.

One member of each group will present the group findings and PMI estimate in a mock courtroom with Judge Dylan Parry presiding. Be prepared to answer detailed questions about how you reached your conclusions and the validity of your estimate.

GRADING:

Collection: 25%

‘Homicide’ investigation and solution 45%

Exam 20%

Participation and Interactivity 10%

Total 100%